Mirror's Edge
by Ghostina
Summary: Sequel to 'A Dance of Fire & Ice'. Months have passed since Pitch was defeated again, and Christmas is around the corner. Cheer should be in the air, but what the Guardians don't know is that spirits all around the world are disappearing... and they are next.
1. Edge

**Disclaimer: **Nothing but Ember and Edge are mine.

**Full Summary and Recap: **Three months ago, the Guardians fought off not only Pitch but a spirit with a very troubled past, Ember. Jack found that she blamed him for her sister's death, and right up till the end she fought to destroy him… until it was discovered that her memories of her sister's death were not right; Ember's sister was alive, so with the Guardians, the fire spirit helped to push Pitch back into the darkness. Then, she vanished.

Now, Christmas is now right around the corner, and the Guardians are still picking up the ashes from when Ember attacked. They think they have some downtime, but they couldn't be more wrong. Unbeknownst to them, spirits all over the world are disappearing one by one…

(Not a JackxOC still. There will be flirting between the OC and such, but that's just in their character)

**Chapter 1**

It was Christmas time; all the towns across the world were prepared for the insanity of the holiday. Lights were spread all across houses, trees were decorated, and children were waiting for the night where jolly Saint Nick would besiege them with presents. It was the time of year that was hard to forget.

Even sitting in a tree over the town of Bugress, Jack could hear children singing carols and laughing during their winter break. He made sure there was enough snow on the ground for the kids to all have fun and also try not to upset the adults in the mean time. They seemingly didn't enjoy the powder as much as Jack wished they would. As he heard many adults grumble, snow was the harbinger of ice scrapers and shovels. At least, kids had a blast.

The winter spirit had just glanced down in time to get pelted in the face by one of the kids playing. He let out a laugh before summoning more snow and just pouring it down on all the children playing, who in turn squealed with delight. He floated above all the playing looking over the snow masterpiece before heading toward Jamie's window.

Jack had expected the teen to come out on the first day of winter break, but the spirit had yet to see him. In truth, Frost felt bad he hadn't seen him much since the Ember incident. It might have been three months ago, but that didn't make it any easier to think about. She had gone on a rampage and destroyed most of the Guardians home, and on top of that, she had kidnapped Jamie. It had been a mess, but at least, in the end, she helped put Pitch back into the ground. Still, he couldn't get that last fight out of his head; she had purposely lost to give her sister peace of mind.

The winter spirit knocked on Jamie's window pushing all the thoughts about Ember to the background. There wasn't much point to dwell now that it was over; there was still a lot fun to be had, after all. He waited patiently for the teen to come over and unlock the window.

"Hey Jack," Jamie said with a smile. "I see you're off to a good start with all the snow."

"Yeah," he shrugged, "but it's not perfect."

Jamie laughed, "What's it missing? More snow?"

"Exactly," the winter spirit grinned causing snow to fall from Jamie's ceiling. The teen rolled his eyes and made sure that all his electronics were covered up.

"You do realize all this snow made it hard for me to start my car this morning?" the teen said pushing his books deeper into the shelves to avoid the wet substance. Jack sometimes forgot that his first believer was growing up, and that outside play was no longer as important as video games and girls. Sure Jack was nineteen when he died, so he understood the girl portion, but video games confounded him. It seemed like less fun then pelting people with snowballs; he was sure Bunny would disagree.

"Well it's break," Jack said sitting on top of his staff. "We should grab your sister and go ice skating on my pond."

"You know that does sound like fun," Jamie said after a moment of thought. "You sure North isn't going to nab you again for help with the workshop."

Last week, the two of them had tried to hang out when a portal opened up and a Yeti stepped out. Jack's appropriate response was to freeze it which North did not appreciate. It turned out with Christmas so close and the workshop only half completed, the guardian of wonder needed additional hands to get ready. Thankfully while the Yetis rebuilt the workshop, Bunny offered his Warren in the meantime… which Jack was sure the Guardian was regretting. He had complained multiple times of stepping in reindeer crap.

"I'll just freeze the messenger again," the winter spirit smiled. Jamie nodded and grabbed his skates before heading to find his little sister.

Jack flew ahead to the lake to make sure it was completely frozen over. Ever since the fight with Ember, he had to put a bit more energy into being sure it stayed solid. He had no idea that she could even melt it as she did. He thought back to that day when he had her pinned under him. She had apologized for so much with so few words and thanked him; then, the ice was gone.

He shut his eyes as he thought about the pain he had gone through because of the other spirit. She had physiologically and physically tortured him when he was Pitch's prisoner. It was hard to shake those sort of wounds, but talking about it helped… not with the Guardians, of course. Jack did trust them with his life, but there was still so much he kept to himself. It wasn't purposeful; it was just the winter spirit was use to being on his own for so long. There were days it was hard to accept he was part of this big family even six years later.

The winter spirit touched his pond to find it slushy, and he frowned wondering who could have done that. With a small amount of his power, the ice resolidified, and it would be safe for the teen and his sister. Jack hoped that Jamie would bring all his friends too; the more the merrier to the winter spirit.

…

He stared into the mirror; his own reflection glaring in return. The man was dressed immaculately; a black suit with a black under shirt. The man's blonde hair was smoothed back; he looked straight out of a Bond movie. His reflection on the other hand looked strange. The man in the mirror was in rags, hair looking like it had been slept on, and rings under his brown eyes.

"Don't look at me like that," the well dressed man said to his reflection. "You and I both know I'm the better half."

"You… you won't get away with this," the man in the mirror said. "Someone will come after you Edge."

"I'm counting on it," the man now called Edge smiled. "You know better than anyone there is always two sides to a coin." He touched the mirror which the man repeated in the mirror, but his face was full of rage. His nails seemed to scratch at it like an animal in a cage. This excited Edge, and he smiled before glancing behind to see numerous cages, empty and full. Each one for a different spirit, each one that would have a different power that he wanted. He couldn't wait to fill them.

Edge skipped over to the cages leaving the mirror alone. He could only take his other half so much in one day before the thing became drawl. The man ran his hand across the labels on each cage; organization was always appreciated. _Groundhog_… he glanced inside to see the creature glaring at him, and it made him feel delightful. _Cupid_… the poor spirit was sitting as far from the man as possible in her cage. He couldn't help but blow her a kiss. His favorite cages were at the end; they were for the precious Guardians. He couldn't wait to see what their mirror images would be like, and once that was done, he could taste their powers…

He glanced into the last cage at his newest addition. She looked ready to kill, and he smiled at her graciously. "Don't look at me like that," he said. "You should be polite and respectful."

"I'll respectfully kick your ass," she snarled, and he hit a button that caused the cell to drop another ten degrees. She shivered and fell to her knees.

"Manners Ember," he scolded with a smile.

**Chapter 2 preview:** Edge is new to town, and he has every intention of going after the Guardians. Meanwhile, North prepares for Christmas while Jack wonders more about his counterpart- the fire spirit.

**OOC:** So since you guys were such amazing reviewers, I decided to post the sequel's first chapter this week.


	2. Deals

**Chapter 2**

Once Jack was sure that the kids had their fill for the day and night was starting to set in, he floated above them all and headed off for Antarctica. Some would have thought Jack was just going to think as he had in the past, but there was more to the place now. It was wrong; he knew it… more so than anyone else. He knew if the Guardians found out before he told them… he really didn't know how'd they act? Disappointed perhaps? Angered?

It didn't matter; it was a guilty pleasure now. Ember and Jack would trade off meeting between Antarctica and Hawaii every week. For a single hour, they'd just sit. Sometimes they would talk about their previous lives as teenagers, but that became a moot point when Jack brought up how she destroyed his memory box. They didn't meet the following week to allow things to simmer.

In truth, the meetings were beneficial. The opposites discovered that they could help one another's powers. Originally sitting within ten feet of each other was uncomfortable. Their powers would fight to try and cancel out the other, but the two of them discovered that if they relaxed and just let the temperature be more natural, their powers were more likely to mix. The mix was comfortable for both. Now they could usually sit across from each other and talk.

Jack currently was trying to help Ember get back her powers. She retained a bit such as flying and heating her body, but since the fight over the lake, she hadn't even been able to bring fire to her bow. The winter spirit figured it had to do where she was drawing her power. When she was with Pitch, her power came from her anger for Jack, but now that she was calming, she didn't have that center anymore. He figured she needed to draw power from something else, probably what the Man in the Moon created her for, but thus far, they had no luck with that. All it did was frustrate her to no end.

It was probably the most uneasy alliance ever in existence. She didn't always appreciate his help, but he figured even she was tired of being alone. The rest of the Guardians had been around since the dark ages; both of them were new to this world. That hadn't stopped her though from purposely melting some of the snow underneath the winter spirit, so his butt was wet for what felt like a week. There were days they didn't get along; some other days, he was sure she wanted to kill him… but he knew she felt bad for what she had done to him under Pitch, so he figured she was trying her hardest to try and redeem herself.

As it was, he was late for their meeting. He hoped she hadn't caused an increase in the melting of the polar caps while she was waiting. It seemed like something she'd do as impatient as she was. He had barely landed when he noticed there was no temperature efflux at their normal meeting location. He frowned as he thought back to their last meeting…

_Ember's toes were curled into the sand, eyes shut in content. Jack was watching in amusement, sweat rolling down his face. It shouldn't have been an exceptionally hot day, but the fire spirit was putting out more heat than usual. She didn't seem to notice, and Jack wasn't going to ruin her moment where she actually looked happy for the first time in months. _

_ "You gonna melt there snow cone?" she asked, cracking her lids to see the winter spirit panting. She seemingly focused, and the heat plummeted. He tried not to audibly sigh in relief. _

_ "Felt like I was on the surface of the sun," he mumbled._

_ "I could make it like the surface of the sun if you'd like?" she smiled mischievously at the winter spirit. _

_ "And if that happens, Hawaii might actually get a snow day," he replied, and their eyes met in amusement. _

_ The two spirits still had their issues. Ember had already basically promised that once she was back on her feet, she'd ruin all his snow days. It wasn't an act of anger, but just an understanding as two opposites, they were going to oppose each other. Natural order of things as Ember put it; however, that day was still off as her powers were still finicky. _

Nothing from last week seemed to suggest the fire spirit wasn't going to show up. If they were tense, they stayed away to avoid blows, but he couldn't think of anything that he had done or she had. He glanced around frowning before looking up to be sure fire wasn't about to land on his head. This was strange, but he didn't get much time to consider it when a portal opened. He was suddenly glad for Ember's MIA as a yeti stepped through holding a bag.

"No," Jack said shaking his head. But the yeti grumbled something and pointed to the other who Jack had frozen last time. They apparently didn't trust him, but he didn't get the chance to argue when another yeti he hadn't seen shoved him into the bag. "Oh come on!"

"Jack!" North said in greeting as the winter spirit tumbled rather unceremoniously onto the floor. "Good to see you."

They were all at the Warren, and Jack had to admit it looked much better than it did the day Ember burnt it to the ground. He had worked hard with Bunny to try and fix most of the damage. It was the one time the Easter bunny allowed the winter spirit to spread as much snow as possible. The snow melted and refilled the river and helped to water the new plants that were now slowly growing.

Looking around, the Guardian of fun already knew what Santa wanted. He needed help to try and finish all the toys. All the others were already here, and he tried not to think about how little fun this would be. Making the toys wasn't as nearly as exciting as playing with them. He floated over to an empty station. It was tempting to make every toy a sled; after all, the best toys were the ones that could be used in the snow.

Tooth was fluttering around trying to coordinate her fairies into getting teeth while she was working here. Sandy was staring at a block of wood holding up a dream sand paintbrush. Bunny was working on painting some robots blue before North corrected him and said red. It seemed like an average day for the Guardians if there wasn't so much freaking out by all the yetis and elves with the lack of workshop still.

…

"You know Ember," Edge said clasping his hands behind his back and staring at the kneeling fire spirit. "I was very impressed with your flair when it came to the Guardians." He was circling the cage making the fire spirit feel like a piece of meat.

"I'm happy to see you liked my work," she growled trying to force her body to produce more heat, but she couldn't seem to find the switch as easily as she had in the past. Anger worked, but the anger she had with Pitch was long since gone or at least buried.

"With Pitch gone, are you freelancing again?" he asked, smiling as he came to a stop in front of the girl again. "A woman with your fiery nature would be very useful to me… in more ways than one." His eyes flickered over her form. She tried not to gag.

"Sorry, I try to avoid working with asswipes," she sneered. "I'm a quick learner." The temperature dropped below freezing, and Ember cringed. She really needed her powers to kick on, or she'd risk becoming icicle.

"Did you kiss your mother with that mouth young lady?" Edge asked, his calm demeanor was seemingly being replaced with something darker… A moment later, he was back to being completely composed and smiling at the shivering spirit. "This is a one-time offer dear. When it expires, you will be just like them." He motioned over to the other spirits trapped and looking down right miserable. There were still many more cages to fill too. "What do you say, my pretty, pretty firefly?"

**Chapter 3 preview: **Ember has been quite weak since the fight with Pitch… so when offered the chance to gain back her notoriety will she take it or has she finally decided redemption is the path?

**OOC:** So for those curious, this story won't have the amazing update schedule that Fire and Ice did. It's not that I don't love you guys (I do), but finals are coming up. I will work to update twice a week when I have the time. I know you're all probably awwww . Don't worry, I have a pretty good idea where this story is going. Hope you love Edge.


	3. Power

**Chapter 3**

"Is telling you to shove it polite enough for you?" Ember smiled as cheekily as she could. It probably was far from the smartest thing to do, but she had truly learned. The fire spirit was done being used by others to attack the Guardians; not like she could do a whole lot of damage without her powers working.

"You're impracticable," Edge said, frowning slightly. His eyes were focusing in on the fire spirit; he looked deep in thought as if this wasn't how he expected the plan to go. "But I will honor your choice… but I'm sure once the pain starts, you will be leaping at the chance to work beside me." He clapped his hand giddily, and the fire spirit thought she had issues; in her mind, this guy was a bloody lunatic. "However," he said looking down at his watch, "I must cut this meeting short. I have another spirit to attend to."

"Leave them alone," Cupid cried from her corner; her voice seemed barely above a whisper. Whatever Edge had done to her in the time he had her was taking an obvious toll; she was curled into a corner, eyes wide.

The fire spirit couldn't see what this psycho could be doing though; Ember had an obvious weakness to the cold, but what did love have? There wasn't an opposite element whose powers could combat something so abstract. She hissed when ice started to cake the bars from when Edge turned the temperature down again. He was just smiling at her like everything was perfect in his world; she couldn't help but wonder how many screws he had loose in his head.

"Be good darlings!" he called practically skipping out the door.

"Moron," Ember hissed standing and brushing herself free of the frost gathering on her skin. "Thought he'd never leave."

The Groundhog chirped at her waving its small paws at her dramatically. She just stared at the thing since she didn't speak… whatever the animal was speaking. Cupid glanced through all the bars to meet Ember's gaze, and the fire spirit shuddered as she felt foreign emotions penetrate her mind. She forgot that one look with a spirit of love could make anyone uneasy on their feet.

"He asked," the spirit whispered, "how you're dealing so well when your cage is close to freezing? You're a fire spirit are you not?"

"Yes, I'm a fire spirit, but I'm also a very crappy fire spirit currently," Ember admitted moving to examine the bars. She didn't tell the others that she had also been working with Jack to adjust her body to colder temperatures just as he had been working to adjust to warmer climates. It also worked in her favor with the fact she wasn't at full power… which she really wanted to fix.

Ember's fingers barely brushed the bars when the temperature plummeted again. Whoever this Edge guy was, he knew how to keep spirits contained. She had a resistance to some lower temps, but if it kept dropping like this, the fire spirit doubt she'd be standing much longer. Knowing it would be a struggle, she still tried forcing fire to her hand and melting some of the ice. A flicker barely touched her finger tips, and she hung her head in defeat. Her anger at the entire situation began to encompass her. First, she had been captured by this new moron in the middle of Antarctica, then humiliated by being put in a cage, and now she could barely summon enough fire to light a candle.

"You should stop being so angry," Cupid continued with a sigh. "Love is a more fulfilling feeling. Like what you felt for your sister."

The fire spirit clenched her fists by her side; she didn't appreciate another spirit talking about her sister. That was what led to her basically losing her powers, and had led her to almost kill Jack Frost. It wasn't exactly a happy time for the fire spirit. As she thought more and more about it and tried to avoid taking it out on the love spirit, she felt the temperature sky rocket in her cage. She looked down to see herself on fire, a beautiful yellow; it was good to see her powers responding… yet she had been trying so hard to avoid drawing from the anger for her strength. However, she wasn't about to be picky while stuck in a cage.

…

Jack sat at a table trying to focus on the toy he was constructing. It was very boring and long work for the winter spirit. Not that he didn't want to help, but why did one toy require so much work. The winter spirit found himself twitching when he realized he still had another twenty plus toy somethings to make. He wasn't even sure what they were!

"Jack stop fidgeting," Bunny said.

"If this was only more exciting," the winter spirit started when the Guardian of hope raised his paw to try and stop Jack from creating a blizzard in the Warren… again.

"No more snow," he growled, but Jack only smiled sheepishly. The Guardian of fun created a small snowball and smacked Bunny right in the face, who just glared more and lowered his ears against his skull. Jack frowned realizing he may have just pushed the boundary a bit… "Do that again mate, and I'll bury your stick."

"I thought you were a kangaroo not a dog?" Jack asked innocently enough, and he had to jump up on top of his staff to miss the boomerang.

"Bunny, Jack!" North bellowed. "It Christmas time! Wonder, joy, excitement!" He said painting the picture with his hands. "This is not the time for fights."

"Or snow," Bunny growled underneath his breath, but he calmed himself and returned to his work.

"You're like the killer of fun Kangaroo," the winter spirit mumbled. He went back to trying to paint a face onto the toy, but before he could help it, he was drawing monster faces all over them. At least this was slightly more amusing, and he found himself stifling laughter with each new face he drew. He was starting to consider a more elaborate design involving ice when Bunny snatched it away and glared at the Guardian… yep, killer of fun.

"Jack," Tooth sighed, "perhaps you should go and release some of this energy."

"A few cities are craving snow days," he said, but in truth, his mind had wandered back to Antarctica. He wanted to find Ember and see what was up; if she wasn't in the snow, he'd simply buzz over to Hawaii.

"Sandy will help until you get back," she continued, and the sandman floated over with a grin. He had his paintbrush back in his hand; he looked happy to do more work on the toys. He probably found it refreshing to do something new with his dream sand; creativity was his thing, how else could he make such wonderful dreams for children?

Jack nodded before floating up and saluting the Guardians. He took off for his home. To some degree, he felt bad for ditching them, but something was tugging at him. It was like he knew something was wrong, and he needed to investigate it. It was in the back of his mind clawing at him; he had to know what was causing him to be so on edge.

**Chapter 4:**Edge and Jack meet… and it's discovered what Edge does to spirits he captures.

**OOC:** You might ask- these chapters aren't as long as your usual… There is a reason; I write what comes to mind, but I don't want to drag anything out unnecessarily. So I write until I find a point where the end just feels 'right' hence the slightly shorter chapters. R&R..

Also, I'm still sticking to the update schedule of twice a week, but I just like you guys hence an extra chapter this week.


	4. Mirrors

**Chapter 4**

Jack sat on the edge of a cliff staring out on the winter touched landscape. It was gorgeous to the winter spirit, and he tried not to think how Ember would scoff at him just enjoying the moment. He glanced around again wondering where the fire spirit could be. For over an hour, he had waited at their meeting point but nothing. Something in his gut was telling him the situation was off; that he should be quite worried.

Not seeing much choice and knowing the Guardians would come looking for him soon, the winter spirit floated up a few feet before telling the wind to take him to Hawaii. Thankfully with it winter, the islands were less likely to heat him into an early grave. The trip wasn't horribly long with the cold air being so abundant this close to Christmas.

Jack felt his toes dig into the sand as he came to a stop, and he enjoyed the feel for the moment as the still luke warm water lapped at his ankles. He set his staff on his shoulder and headed up the beach towards the only house on this part of the island. The hammock was still sitting out on the porch, and Jack remembered how a few times back, he had caught her napping there. It was natural for him to fill it with snow… just as she said it was natural for her to try and light his hair on fire.

Touching his staff to the door, he cascaded frost across all the glass hoping to get the fire spirit's attention without stepping inside. The house, as he knew, was like a boiler; it was kept far above what he considered comfortable. When they talked here, it was always outside.

"Firefly!" he shouted when she had yet to appear. "Come on, you can't be that mad at me. I haven't made it snow here _yet_."

"It is very impolite to shout," a voice rang out behind the winter spirit; he turned to see a well-dressed man staring at him, intrigue evident. Jack would have thought him human if not for the fact he was looking right at the winter spirit and just spoke.

"So is breaking into the house," Jack said slowly unsure what to make of the situation. "Who are you?"

"It is more considerate to give your name first," the man continued, tilting his head ever so slightly.

"I'm going with creepy," Jack continued deciding whoever this guy was, there was something seriously off about him. The way he stared not at the winter spirit but almost through put Jack very on edge. He was half tempted to just go back to the Warren, but he knew this guy probably had something to do with the lack of Ember.

"You're an interesting lad aren't you," the man continued. "You speak to yourself, you're quite sardonic, and you seem to not hold yourself in high regard."

The winter spirit frowned and tightened his hold on his staff. He was ready for a fight, not that he knew it would turn to one. It just didn't seem _right_ that this guy was here, talking to a spirit and mocking his manners. Underneath his feet, he felt the frost and cold seeping out.

"Well that's quite alright," the man shrugged. "We can work on your manners. I will admit I had a different appointment to hold before you showed up, but it'd be rude of me to just leave you here." From seemingly nowhere, the man pulled out a samurai looking sword. "You could just surrender and w can avoid all the mess."

Jack screwed his face up like he was thinking before nodding. "Yeah um no," he said flipping his staff forward and shooting ice that this guy. He didn't even move; the guy swung his sword and ice just parted for him. The winter spirit suddenly knew he was going to have his hands full.

Taking to the sky, Jack called forth a blizzard trying not to think of how much Ember would kill him when she saw her house under ten feet of snow. Still, the guy just stood there smiling as if he enjoyed the snow; which was too bad, Jack could usually get along with someone who loved winter as he did.

"Come now," the man called up. "Stop with these silly games." He reached into his breast pocket to reveal a small compact mirror. Jack half expected him to powder his nose at this point. The wind was howling, and snow was clinging to trees as the storm the winter spirit summoned picked up speed. Any normal person would have been on their knees from the sheer chill.

Out of nowhere, Jack was slammed from behind. He tumbled forward but kept himself in the air. Frost turned to see another spirit flying with him: she was older than Jack, with black rotting wings. Her blonde hair was raggedy and pulled into a tight pony tail. Her black eyes were turned onto him as was her bow. In truth, he had seen a very similar spirit: Cupid. He had only met the spirit of love once in passing, but this girl looked strikingly similar except for the fact this spirit looked like she went through the grinder a few times.

Below the two floating spirits, Edge was clapping his hands in excitement. He knew had Cupid long enough finally; in truth, when he had left his base, he wasn't sure if she had lost enough strength to bring out her counterpart. Mirrors didn't just show people what they were, but they held the surface for what a future could look like and what an opposite could be.

Edge had that power: to change a person by showing them their reflection. He had weakened Cupid's will until she couldn't help but stare into a mirror and see herself turned evil… saw herself not as a spirit of love but hate. And that was what Jack was fighting now- a spirit of hate. Edge smiled at his creation before looking down at the mirror in his hand to see the Cupid all the other spirit's knew banging against the reflective surface, trapped for the moment. He doubted the transition was complete, which meant this half of Cupid would soon return to this other realm held in mirrors and Cupid would be back in her cage horrified at what she'd let out.

The man was just excited to have Jack so close into one of his cages; he had actually wanted to go after the leprechaun, but the little guy was difficult to catch… and then, he had the good fortune to run across Jack looking for Ember- this brought up numerous questions as he had thought the two were mortal enemies. Then again, perhaps he should have assumed the two were on some sort of friendly terms since he had found her in Antarctica.

When all the spirits of the world were trapped, he could let each of their counterparts out onto the world while they would be trapped in the mirrors left to watch and suffer. Children wouldn't have wonder, dreams, fun, love or any of that in their lives; they would know disbelief, fear, rules, and hate. Edge had every intention of bringing this dream of his to the world.

He had to snap back to attention when Jack slammed into the ground in front of him, an arrow embedded in his shoulder. "I would have thought you would have learned to dodge those better since Ember's weapon of choice is a bow."

"It's not like me and her have 'avoid arrow' class every week," the winter spirit growled moving to grab his fallen staff, but Edge beat him there.

"You won't need this for a bit," he smiled. "I hope you'll like the accommodations, and I'm sure you and Ember will have plenty to talk about. Including this arrow class."

"You have Ember?" Jack growled knowing he could easily use his powers without his staff, but if this guy had the fire spirit… Jack decided to play weak; he needed to know what this guy was capable of.

"Yes," Edge smiled. "And you'll get to see her soon." He clapped excitedly. "Oh what a wonderful day."

**Chapter 5:** Ember and Jack try to find a way out of their prison, so that they can warn the Guardians. Edge continues to collect spirits for his nasty plan of changing everything children believe in.

**OOC:** Okay, I know some of you will be confused about Edge, so let me run it down right here (it's sometimes hard to create an explanation in story).

So a mirror as all of you (I hope at least) know has your reflection; Edge is saying that the person in the mirror isn't really you but an opposite you (You love icecream, they hate icecream sort of thing). He has the power to switch you out with your counterpart. In terms of the spirits, a spirit of Love will become a spirit of hate when he switches them out. He traps the spirits we all know and love in mirrors, and he is going to use these anti-spirits to take over the world ;). I hope that clears it up- if not PM me, and I'll explain it again.


	5. Cupid

**Chapter 5**

As Jack was dragged into Edge's lair, he heard a slow clap. The winter spirit's eyes couldn't help but snap to the end of the row where Ember was sitting looking worse for wear. She was shaking her head, frowning, and applause. Edge found this funny as he laughed and shoved Jack into the cage right next to the fire spirit.

"Ingenious," Ember said. "Got yourself caught. Is that a talent of yours?" she asked remembering the time where she had thrown him into Pitch's hands. It felt like yesterday when she led him into the Nightmare king's lair and into a cell. The force of her kick had sent him to his knees where the dark sand did the rest in terms of detainment.

"I suddenly think I know how Bunny feels talking to me," Jack mumbled trying not to glare at the fire spirit. "I wasn't trying to get caught… this _guy_ somehow summoned…" The winter spirit found his eyes wandering to another cage where Cupid was sitting shivering; her pupils were dilated in something akin to fear. "A version of Cupid."

"You got beat by something using love?" she asked before breaking out into laughter. "Only you would."

"It was not love," he growled not finding any part of this situation amusing… somehow. This was part of his plan to get captured to find Ember, but he hadn't exactly thought beyond this point. The winter spirit could only hope the two of them could get out and help all the other spirits contained. "It was a deranged…. Yeah, never mind, I got my ass kicked." He smiled at Ember who was only shaking her head.

"Glad to see two opposites getting along," Edge said stepping up to both their cages; that brought Ember to her feet and to a glare. "It's actual a strange sight." He was almost against the bars looking between the winter and summer spirit. "That's the thing though. Everything has an opposite in some way or another, a balancer to themselves. Most don't get along though."

"Well compared to how we were, this might even be friendship," Jack joked referring to how they had been at each other's throats no more than four months ago. "Right best bud?"

"If trying to set you on fire every few day's counts," Ember shrugged, "then yep best friends forever."

"Oh you two are delightful," Edge grinned. "I can't wait to see what the mirror sees in you."

"No more," Cupid said from her corner. "I don't want to see that ever again."

"Mirror?" the summer and winter spirits said in sync.

"It's atrocious," the spirit of love cried. "It brings out the worst and traps the good."

"You call it horrible," Edge said wagging his finger. "But there must be opposites. A yin to yang relationship. I just bring out the yin." His eyes shifted from his newest prize back to Cupid whose long blonde hair looked ragged, and her wings were much darker. "Now you must excuse me, I had meant to go after a few other spirits today; you were just a lucky catch Jack. Don't kill each other while I'm gone!" He walked over to Cupid's cage, looked her once over, and dragged the mirror he had been talked to earlier over to her cage. She was crying. "Just look at yourself, what do you see?"

Both Jack and Ember watched in muted horror, as Cupid's eyes went wide and she could barely stutter out a message. Before their eyes, she transformed from the spirit of love to something horrific. Her eyes were pure black, rotting wings, and a malicious smile. It was the spirit Jack had seen on the beach. Edge pushed the mirror away, and as he did, both Ember and Jack saw the Cupid they knew banging on the mirror as if she was trapped inside.

The man opened anti-Cupid's cage, and she stepped out taking a deep breath as she did so. "Oh the hate I taste in this room is insatiable." Her eyes flickered over to the winter and summer spirits. "Obviously some people haven't worked through everything yet. I'll enjoy fueling that fire." She was practically licking her lips at the two spirits.

"Keep an eye on my prizes will you?" Edge asked. "It is not every day, natural opposites are so easily found." He blew a kiss at Ember before taking his leave. The Groundhog was chirping, fear even evident in his sounds.

"I'll take the Kangaroo any day," Jack said trying to break the silence.

"What's the chance the Guardians are coming for you?" Ember asked not liking how the spirit of love now hate sauntered towards them.

"Great," he said. "If they knew where I went…" And the fire spirit face palmed.

…

"So where did Jack go?" Tooth finally asked looking around. It had been hours since the winter spirit had been around. She had expected the younger Guardian to take an hour to let loose energy, but she had figured he would have returned by now.

"Probably causing a blizzard," Bunny muttered cocking his head at the pile of now finished toys. They had put in a good dent today, and in the Guardian of hope's mind, they had gotten a lot more done with Jack not causing snow in the Warren.

Sandy joined in the conversation showing a few images here and there. This time the rest of the Guardians understood as the images were slow enough, and for once made sense. The moon was high in the sky now, and the sandman was basically saying no child he had touched had seen the spirit of winter… which was strange considering this was his time of year.

"Strange," North said looking over all the toys. "So many gifts this year. Best Christmas yet." He was completely oblivious to the missing guardian. "Thank you my friends. I make deadline now."

"Did Jack come back?" Tooth asked frowning a bit when North shook his head. She couldn't help it; she was protective over the younger Guardian especially since the Ember incident. She had seen how it tore at him to think he had killed her sister, and she had seen the brutality of the fight between the two spirits. She just didn't want him to go get himself into hot water again.

"You think he got himself in trouble?" North asked.

"When isn't the kid in trouble?" Bunny sighed. "It's what he's good at."

"Still," Tooth said trailing off.

Sandy nodded showing an X above his head. Even he seemed to think that something seemed off with the current situation. They all wanted to keep a closer eye on Jack since Pitch and Ember. It had been such a bad fight; even three months later, all the Guardians were still recovering. It went unsaid that they all hoped the winter spirit had just lost track of time playing with kids.

"Fine," Bunny said conforming to the group before tapping the ground with his food. "Where is he at North?"

The Guardian of wonder seemed deep in thought before his eyes widened. "I don't know," he said. It was one of his powers to be able to find children no matter where they were; perhaps he couldn't because Jack was technically a young adult when he died and became a spirit or someone was blocking him. "We find him now."

"Let's try Antarctica for now," the rabbit said jumping down the hole knowing the rest of the Guardians would find their own way… he didn't care as long as he wasn't in the sleigh again. He swore never again, never, never, never again.

The entire continent was even more cold if that was possible. The wind chill alone made Bunny want to run back into his hole and never come out; he never understood how anyone could like this type of weather. He couldn't count how many years frost had almost ruined an egg hunt on Easter… not to mention that blizzard of '68. Bunny still wanted Jack's head on a pike some days for that… However, this didn't mean that the older Guardian didn't care for Jack. He really did; he would die to protect the kid. Said kid still drove him up a wall constantly.

Bunny looked around the frozen landscape not seeing a person in sight. Off in the distance, he could hear the faint cracks of the reins as North drove his reindeer closer, but he wasn't sure if there was anything to find.

Jack Frost wasn't just gone… he had disappeared.

**Chapter 6:** Jack and Ember get to know this anti-Cupid more and try to formulate an escape as more spirits start to pop up in the cages. It seems like Edge is building an army of spirits… Meanwhile, the Guardians scramble not to find Jack, as much as they would like to, but to help the disappearing spirits.

**OOC:** Alright you guys are awesome! Just let me say that. I suddenly remember someone asked if the game 'Mirror's Edge' had anything to do with the title, and nope. This was originally going to be called 'Double Edge of the Sword', but Mirror's Edge sung more right.

I've also had a few PMs regarding Ember and her use. If you want to use Ember, I don't care. Just as long as you link the credit back to me in some way either by stating her origin story or my penname then we're good. Otherwise, you guys are welcome to have as much fun with her as well.

Finally, this is addicting to write. I keep saying 2 updates a week, and it's turning into 5. Keep those reviews coming especially if you want to see something specific/you have some ideas for spirit's to be captured. This won't be OC galore, but I do want to mention some spirits/myths that we all grew up with :)

Quick shout out to some of you guys

Madin456- don't get ahead of yourself yet ;)

Blue Torpedo- just so you know, I wasn't planning on Edge getting Jack, but you gave me some ideas. The next chapter is going to be fun to write, so *thumbs up*

As for the rest of you guys, just b/c I don't mention you don't mean I hate you :P, just means it'd take all day for me to shout out to all of you!


	6. Missing

**Note:** Spirits turned by Edge will be called 'Anti-blah blah'.

**Chapter 6**

Jack couldn't help but watch in horror as Edge seemingly just caught spirit after spirit. Apparently with the capture of the winter spirit was simply a warm up. He would have shouted down the man and insulted him, anything to make Edge stop marching in spirits, but this anti-Cupid was quite threatening. She had convinced Edge to put him and Ember in the same cage, and while that would have been an advantage given a normal situation; this was by far not safe. Anti-Cupid was inflicting her hate upon Ember bringing back the emotions the fire spirit felt when she was with Pitch. He could only watch as she stayed curled in a corner to avoid looking at Jack; Ember knew if she saw the winter spirit with how she was feeling, she would probably rip his throat out.

Currently, the winter spirit was on the far edge of the shared cage hoping not to bring Ember's attention to him. He had done it once, and that was how he learned this wasn't an ideal situation. The burn on his wrists from where she had pinned him against the bars still ached and throbbed. He knew their only chance was for him to use his powers without his staff, which was possible, but he didn't want to drag Edge's attention to them either. He had to wait for the _thing_ to leave for longer than a few minutes.

Thus far, Edge had captured: the spirits of Spring and Fall (May and Oakley), the spirit of the New Year (Babs), the spirits involved with Cinco de Mayo, the spirit of Thanksgiving (a turkey with no name), and the spirit of Halloween (Samhain). While most of the spirits struggled and cursed out Edge, Samhain joined the man without thought. Apparently Samhain had purposely been sealed to make Halloween more of a joyous holiday when much of it originated to hide from the bloodthirsty spirit.

The spirit of Halloween paid little attention to the guests and was instead instructing Edge on how to capture the Leprechaun, a spirit of luck. The two of them had decided that turning luck into bad luck would make it much easier to capture more of the spirits. Jack overhead this and knew he had to get out and warn the Guardians as soon as possible. As it was, the Groundhog had already turned form chirping fearfully to a monstrous rabid animal. The Guardian of Fun knew this fight was going to take everything the Guardians stood for and could ever stand for to win.

Thankfully, Edge had yet to try and turn the spirit of Summer and Winter. The white haired spirit figured Edge enjoyed tormenting the two opposites considering how far they were different. The urge to escape increased tenfold when somehow the well dressed man brought in a dragon and trapped it in a rather large cage. The last thing Jack ever wanted to face was a dragon… maybe ride one, but not go one on one.

"How are my defiant spirits?" Edge cooed walking towards anti-Cupid, who bowed her head in respect. He was staring into the cage watching Ember tremble in a corner; her knuckles white from gripping the bars. "You don't look happy Ember."

"Because hate is such a wonderful emotion," Jack said trying to pull the attention from the fire spirit. "I hate you, you hate me, we're a happy family…" The winter spirit shrugged to convey his point, but the mirror man simply smiled.

"You act as if you have never felt the power of hate," anti-Cupid said tilting her head. "You hated being alone didn't you? You hated being ignored and not believed in."

"But I got past it," he said. "I have the Guardians whom I love… well except for Bunny. That might be a mutual dislike." It was an automatic defense, to be sarcastic.

"Oh you make me smile," Edge said. "Your wit is far more refreshing than Ember's."

"That's because she's sarcastic then adds a death threat to the end for flair," Jack responded, and from the corner, he heard Ember growl. The temperature fluctuated again, and he took a deep breath when she didn't fly half way across the cage to strangle him.

"Yes still," the man said. "I am hoping that Ember has enough manners to answer my next question pertaining to her loyalty."

"She's going to be charming as long as Cupid keeps doing whatever she's doing," the winter spirit practically growled; he couldn't help but feel bad for the fire spirit. Ever since anti-Cupid hit her with a red arrow, she had become hostile at best and murderous at worst.

"Cupid," Edge said, and she seemingly waved her hand. When she did, Ember took a shuddering breath and finally looked across the cage at Jack, eyes half lidded. She wasn't glaring anymore, so that was a plus. "I am hoping you have reconsidered my offer Ember to join me. I could allow your mirror form to come out and play, but these forms are so…" He pushed the anti-Cupid who barely responded. "Flat sometimes. I want a partner, not a solider."

"You have Samhain," Ember whispered, closing her eyes and resting her forehead against the bars. "He's practically your lapdog." The spirit of Halloween had seemingly heard his name as he was now standing next to Edge glaring at the fire spirit.

"I think I'd prefer her mirror form. She'd be quiet," the tall spirit growled. He was intimidating to say the least at over six feet, dark almost black eyes, and scruffy brown hair that hung down to his shoulders. The air was ripe with rage from the Halloween spirit. He obviously, like Pitch, was someone that enjoyed instilling fear in others.

"I'm sure my other side is just as sarcastic as me," she hissed forcing herself to her feet and facing the villains. "I've been in touch with her before." It was true, when she was with Pitch; all that anger she harbored came from that side of her that the mirror would have no issue bringing front and center. It was a frightening thought to think of all that anger and no conscious to control it. Ember thought back to when she almost killed Pitch for causing her all that pain, and she knew had her anger only existed, his death would have happened, and it wouldn't have been fast.

"Perhaps I was wrong," Edge said frowning. "I had thought your anger would still be steadfast, but based on how you're practically in front of Frost protecting him from us…"

Ember hadn't even realized she had stepped in front of the winter spirit until he had said it. She glanced over her shoulder to see Jack giving her a quizzical look, but she held her place. Perhaps it had been unconscious to try and bring all the attention to her, but now that she had it, she wasn't going to let go of it.

"You might as well turn me into one of those _things_," Ember hissed, "because if you don't, I swear I will shove you through a mirror before this is done."

"I'd drop the temperature in your cage to remind you to be polite," Edge sighed, "but I fear Jack might get the wrong idea. Which means, Cupid…"

The anti-Cupid summoned a new glowing red arrow; it wasn't solid, but more of a glow of energy. It fired right into the fire spirit, who stumbled back into Jack. He steadied her, so she didn't fall, but he didn't get the chance to move when she turned and threw him against the bars. The anger Ember usually let simmer and the hate now flowing through her veins from anti-Cupid made her dangerous. She had Jack pinned against the bars, while Edge simply watched with a smile.

"Ember you need to breath and calm down," Jack said trying to be the rational one… he'd prefer to turn this into something fun, but he had a feeling the fire spirit would only have fun when she was practically torturing him.

"Oh I love natural opposites," he said. "Well you two have fun. I want to pick up a few more spirits before the day is out." Edge waved as him and Samhain walked away.

"Ember," the winter spirit hissed feeling the fire licking against his skin. "You need to think." He felt her hands moving towards his throat, and with little choice left, he created a snowball hoping anti-love wasn't paying attention to his power use… and then he shoved the snowball right into the fire spirit's face who snarled and stepped away. She was shaking her head trying to rid herself of the offending snow, but Jack hoped his magic would go to work- he hoped the fun would overcome the hate. He crossed his fingers since he knew if fun lost out, he probably wouldn't live to see the next snowstorm.

…

The Guardians would have preferred to continue to scour the globe for their missing friend, but as they tried to contact other spirits to see if they had seen him… they discovered something; many of the spirits were missing themselves. This in turn made the Guardians frantic to find Jack, but they also had a plate full. The spirits missing were still rolling in, and even Bunny wasn't sure what to do with this information.

"Do you think this is Pitch's doing?" Tooth asked fluttering next to her friends as they stood in some random forest.

"No, no way," Bunny said shaking his head. "He couldn't have recovered after three months in the hole."

"Bunny is right," North said frowning as he did so. "This cannot be Pitch."

Sandy popped up with a question mark. They wanted to figure out what was going on, so they could fix this immediately. Thankfully, the kids hadn't noticed the absence of the smaller spirits, and even the loss of Jack hadn't caused the temperature to flip flop yet… None of the Guardians knew what to do; they were at a loss.

"Perhaps," North started, frowning more. "Perhaps it is time for us to ask Pitch."

"But this ain't him," Bunny said.

"No," the Guardian replied gruffly. "But he might know who or what…"

"Is causing this," Tooth finished with a nod. "It's our only idea since we don't know what spirit could disappear next."

While it wasn't a perfect agreement, the Guardians decided to descend into Pitch's lair in hopes that his fearlings had inkling into what was going on. Someone had to know where the spirits were going, and more so, someone had to be behind it.

Pitch's lair was fairly empty and devoid of life, but the Guardians still treaded carefully. Each had a weapon drawn in case the fear king popped from the shadows. They spent over an hour wandering the entire dark base before coming to a single conclusion… Pitch was, also, missing.

**Chapter 7 preview:** The Guardians are at a loss, but thankfully, Jack and Ember have come up with an escape plan. They're done being caged up… but what happened to Pitch?

**OOC:** So I put in a lot of OC's in here, but most won't play a pivotal part, but they will exist throughout the story line. Hope you guys are enjoying the ride thus far. :P R&R per usual


	7. Unworthy

**Chapter 7**

"Ember," Jack whispered when the fire spirit stumbled away shaking her head, but before he could say another thing, she was back with her arm across his throat. His fingers dug into her arm ready to freeze her if need be.

"We need to get out of here," Ember whispered shocking the winter spirit, but then he realized she wasn't holding him that tightly against the bars. It was just enough to look real… she was putting on a show for anti-Cupid. "How cold can you go?"

"As much as needed," he whispered back kicking at the fire spirit to keep up the ruse. "Why?"

"Well even the hardest substance will start to crack with constant freezing and heating," she shrugged bringing her other hand up and touching Jack's cheek lightly. He tried not to flinch when he felt her nails go in.

"You might want to move away then," Jack said moving his hands from her arm to the bars behind him. He wrapped his fingers around and prepared to assault the entire cell with ice.

"Can't if we want to keep this up," she sighed leaning forward, eyes closed. "Just get it over with." They both knew while Ember was more tolerant to the cold now, there was no way the temperature Jack was about to drop the bars to would be comfortable especially with her in direct contact with him.

Ember felt the immediate change and bit her lip to keep any sound leaving her. She was use to the snow, but this was like jumping into a frozen lake and letting all the ice into the lungs. When she let out a breath, she saw the mist and immediately started to hold in any subsequent air. They couldn't let anti-Cupid know what was going on until it was too late. Her arm slung across Jack's neck started to turn a pretty shade of blue from her very body shutting down. It was too cold for the fire spirit, and when she thought she couldn't take a second longer, the cold started to subside.

She felt Jack shift, and she fell forward against the bars which burned her from the cold. However, the two spirits didn't have any time to waste. She ignored the agony and wrapped her hand around the bars and focused. They had to get out, or they would both be dead or trapped in some mirror. She focused on these thoughts as she flooded the bars with immediate intense heat. Behind her, she heard Jack gasp as the temperature in the entire cell sky rocketed; the bars became like a stove top. She only had a few second before Jack would freeze them again, so she tried to enjoy the warmth while she could.

"Now, snow cone," she growled getting up and kicking Jack in the chest and sent him into the opposite bars. He repeated his action, but this time, the distance helped a bit. Ember didn't feel like she was about to become an icicle, and the way anti-Cupid was staring at them, the fire spirit knew the ruse was working. The spirit of hate figured the two were fighting with their changing temperatures, not that they were working together.

When Jack seemed finished, he stepped towards Ember and made to tackle her. She let him, so that she had a reason to get back to the bars without strolling up to them. She let out oomph when her back crashed into them. Her skin screamed out in protest when it touched the ice precipitant on the bars. Ember could only be glad she had finally changed her get up from a skirt and halter to jeans and a v neck. It was probably because of that she still had feeling in her body.

Jack was sadly still touching her when she was forced to flush the bars with heat. This time she put everything she had into it… to the point she actually set herself on fire, the first time she had without using her rage. This heat was coming from something else, something she wasn't sure of yet. The bars creaked and groaned under the assault until the ones right behind Ember physically snapped.

The winter spirit groaned as the two of them toppled from the cage, and he landed on top of Ember. She could hear him panting, and she realized she had probably done a good chunk of damage to him from the last sprout of fire. Calming her body so that she was no longer on fire herself, she shoved Jack off rather unceremoniously. Jumping to her feet, she took off for her bow ignoring the shouts of anti-Cupid. She knew an arrow was coming at her, so she slid to her knees and skidded the rest of the way to her bow. Snatching it, she turned and summoned a red fire arrow before releasing it right at anti-Cupid's head. The spirit of hate was forced to dodge giving the fire spirit amble time to grab Jack's staff and throw it as close to him as she could.

All the other spirits' cheered and hollered as Ember continued to fire arrow after arrow at the other spirit. She didn't even look to see if Jack was back on his feet; it was only when Ember was nailed by one of the other spirit's arrows did the winter spirit seemingly step in. A wave of ice knocked the spirit from the air, and the spirit of Winter and Summer squared off together.

"We need to get out of here," Ember said notching another arrow. "These opposites are much stronger than their counterparts."

"We can't leave them," Jack argued twirling his staff and sending more ice at their adversary. He glanced over at the rest of the cages.

"And what happens when we are recaptured?" the fire spirit said. "I don't know about you but I'm not running on full here… and your ice, I can still feel it in my veins."

"You want to leave them here, trapped in cages like they're some sort of zoo?" the winter spirit said, his tone sharp.

"No I want to live to fight another day," Ember snapped. "I don't want to let Edge turn me into _her._"

Jack for a moment thought the fire spirit was referring to what Cupid had become, but he realized quickly that she was referring to her time with Pitch. How the fear king had turned her basically into a monster that only sought to cause him pain… He glanced over at Ember to see her giving him a pleading look.

"The rest of the Guardians can help get them out," she continued. "But we need to go now. Edge… I've seen him…." She didn't finish that as from across the room, the man in question literally stepped out of a mirror. His eyes narrowed at the sight of the two fighting spirits; he was obviously far from pleased with this turn of events. "He can travel through any reflective surface," Ember finished.

"Yeah another day sounds good," Jack said turning with Ember as they took off for the nearest door to this warehouse. Behind them, they could hear Edge screaming orders at any spirit he had already turned; apparently when things didn't go his way, he very much lost his composure.

"Can you take a bit more heat?" Ember asked as she sprinted, and Jack gave her a swift nod. "Good, I'm going to give us some cover." She barely stopped to shoot an arrow to the ceiling; it was a dangerous move as part of the roof caught fire. It put the rest of the spirits in danger, but the smoke would cloud their escape. Ember was figuring that Edge wouldn't let all the spirits die after going to so much effort to capture them. She saw Jack's eyes go wide at the sight before he was glaring at her.

"Are you serious?" he asked.

"Are you ever?" she responded turning to sprint again as Edge moved to control the new blaze. The two spirits' stepped outside to a black forest. They didn't recognize where they were at all. Still, they both took to the air barely looking back.

"Allow me to help cover our escape too," Jack said whipping up a blizzard as they flew almost causing Ember do drop from the sky. She didn't appreciate the snow, but she knew it was also in response to her setting their captor's house on fire. Never did they realize once that the 'black' portion of the forest they were seeing was shadows. They were just in too much of a hurry to get away.

The two spirits flew until they reached Bugress where they both set down. Ember stumbled a bit on landing due to all the snow and she scowled at the sight of the white powder. The area encompassing her became clear of the snow quickly as she heated the ground. It became soggy under her feet, but it was still better than snow.

"We need to get to the Warren and warn the Guardians," Jack said frowning a bit when he saw that Ember had melted a portion of the snow. He couldn't help but grin when he waved his staff and filled the gap back in.

"No," Ember growled, and he stared at her. "_You_ need to warn the rest of your team. This is where we part ways."

"Ember," Jack said. "Mirror man is going to come after all of us."

"No he's more interested in the powerful spirits that protect children," she sighed. "I'm a fire spirit, that's all. This isn't my fight, and I don't want to get involve. If I disappear, he won't find me again. He only found me when looking for you."

"You protected your sister," he argued.

"And only her," she shrugged. "Good bye Jack Frost. Good luck against Edge." She turned ready to disappear from this fight.

"Come on Firefly," he said trying one more time to convince her to stay.

"You forget Snow Cone," she sighed glancing over her shoulder. "I tried to kill you and the rest of your _family_. They aren't going to welcome me back with open arms."

"Kangaroo won't, but I'm sure with your teeth, Tooth will try to get her fingers in your mouth," he said with a smile. "And that's a certified welcoming in the Guardians."

"Good luck Jack," she said, and it was probably the most honest thing she had ever said to the winter spirit. Then, she took to the sky and left Jack to try and figure out his next move.

The winter spirit had a sudden awe of understanding; he couldn't believe he hadn't seen it before. Ember was acting the same way he had when the Guardians told him that he was going to join their ranks. For 300 years, he had one purpose to just really exist, and for someone to tell him that he was going to do something else, that he had a job, a purpose, he hadn't accepted it easily. It shook his world to know that he was worthy of being a Guardian… and for thirty years, Ember had been dark and driven to make him suffer. Then her world changed, and she didn't know what to do. She probably didn't think she was worthy of redemption… Jack wanted to change her mind, just as the Guardians had changed his, but right now, he had to go warn the rest of them about Edge.

**Chapter 8 preview: **Jack finds the Guardians, and they get a short lived reunion when Samhain attacks.

**OOC:** So, you're all probably like 'omg! She is back on her awesome update schedule of 2x a day'… and I wish it so, but no. I'm giving a second update because my final's week starts tomorrow, and I don't know if I'll be able to get out an update easily or at all… If I can't get an update until the end of final's week, it might not be up until Friday or Saturday as I have to drive home (15 hours). But promise, I'll be back and I hope to get at least A update out this week.

R&R


	8. Story

**Chapter 8**

Ember sat staring out into the snow. She had a lot on her mind since escaping Edge and running from Jack. She more or less just wanted to forget and enjoy these few moments where she got to see her niece. The little girl was having a blast in the snow, throwing it every which direction and laughing. Her mom, Ember's sister, was having just as much fun chasing the little girl. Neither could see the fire spirit for she had hidden herself well among the branches of the tree; then again, Ember wasn't entirely sure if they would be able to see her anyway. Melanie thought her dead, and she never really got to interact with her niece in any capacity.

What Ember had said to Jack was true… she didn't want to protect the world's children; she was her sister's protector, nothing more… but seeing that little girl laughing and enjoying the Christmas season, Ember felt her doubts fading. Would she really leave this child to be tormented by spirits such as Edge or Pitch? Sure, to Ember, nightmares weren't bad, but that had been due to her entire life being nothing more than a waking atrocity. This little girl, Amber, had never had a hand raised against her, never seen a drunken fit; her life was perfect. Could the fire spirit let that be ruined because she was too upset at herself for siding with Pitch? Could she let her guilt overwhelm her and keep her on the sidelines?

Amber laughed again throwing tons of snow into the air, and Melanie threw her arms around the child, whispering sweet nothings into her ear. The fire spirit let her eyes trail to the ground; this was by far not helping her guilt. She just wanted the world to leave her alone, but she had a feeling the Man in the Moon didn't create her to let her be ignored. There had to be a reason beyond the hate, beyond the guilt… perhaps, she could do something more. Be a protector to all sisters, to children, to the world… then she scoffed because nothing made her cringe more than thinking of her being jolly with the Guardians. Still, she let a smile creep onto her face.

…

Jack tried not to let Ember's… well, burn… sting. He knew she had been reluctant to involve herself in Guardian matters since the Pitch situation; he couldn't exactly blame her after all she had done. But he had thought when they broke out together, that she would put that aside and step up with him. Edge was formidable; the winter spirit didn't need to be told twice to see that. He knew that he had to return to his teammates and warn them of the coming storm.

The Guardian of Fun figured his best shot was to try the Warren first then the Palace. He doubted they would all meet at the workshop considering most of it was still only framework. The Yetis were working as fast as they could, but it was hard to work in blizzard conditions. He shouted for the wind to take him to the Warren, and he let himself fly.

His blue eyes focused in on his family as he landed in a grassy patch not too far away. Tooth was almost immediately in front of him, her arms around his neck. Even Bunny was looking at him worried; Jack forgot the burns on his neck were probably still quite vibrant.

"Where ya been?" Bunny asked eyeing the wounds.

"Getting friendly with Edge," Jack sighed with a shrug to which all the Guardians stared at him strangely. "You know we have a problem when I say we seriously have a problem."

"Edge?" North asked stepping next to the Guardian of Hope. Sandy floated over and had a question mark above his head.

"Some weirdo," Jack said. "He snatched me in a fight, dragged me back to his place…"

"Why?" Bunny interrupted.

"For tea," the winter spirit frowned. "To hold me, why do you think? He is kidnapping spirits." Jack continued before any of them could ask and gushed out what Edge was doing to all the spirits- trapping the good sides in mirrors and bringing out the bad. The other Guardians looked horrified at this revelation; so much so, that they forgot to mention the missing fear king.

Sandy was the one who changed the subject by creating a picture of Jack and creating an arrow pointing to his neck. The winter spirit unconsciously reached up and touched the tender skin. He wondered for the briefest moments if he should tell them about Ember; he had yet to even tell the others that she was alive.

"Edge thought it was a good way to restrain me," Jack lied easily, not liking it but not wanting to sick the Guardians on the fire spirit. "I was able to freeze the bars until they cracked though and got away."

"This ain't good," Bunny summarized. "How many spirits do ya reckon he's got?"

"Enough," Jack sighed. "We're outnumbered if he converts all of them."

"He doesn't technically have to convert all of us," a new voice chimed in, and all the Guardians turned to see Samhain strolling into the Warren, hands clasped behind his back.

"Yeah forgot to mention that one," Jack mumbled not liking the sight of this Halloween spirit.

"Edge sends his regards Jack," the Halloween spirit growled; his anger palpable in the air. "And he also sends me to recollect you. Perhaps you can tell me where…"

"Trick or Treat," Jack interrupted knowing the spirit's next words would be about Ember.

"I prefer tricks," Samhain responded.

"Good," the winter spirit said sending a wave of snow at the spirit, but he just flickered out of existence.

"Need to do better," the voice of Samhain resonated around the entirety of the Warren. "I'm a master of tricks myself."

The Guardians formed a circle trying to watch every side; they weren't sure what the extent this guy's powers were now. He had been contained for more than a century thanks to the original four Guardians, and they remembered how he had been just as difficult to contain as Pitch.

A wave of power caused all the Guardians to topple as Samhain appeared out of thin air. He was cackling and waved his hand again forcing the protectors to stumble a few more feet. He was enjoying keeping them off balance, but he was obviously holding back.

"I'm supposed to take you all in alive," he sighed. "But I really prefer dead bodies." With another wave of his hand, zombie-like creatures appeared near him. They were similar to Pitch's fearlings- black eyes, shadowy like forms, but more human looking and groaning.

Each of the Guardians drew their weapons and prepared for a hefty battle. North ran head first into the zoms slashing like a maniac while Tooth used her own blades to twirl and turn numerous to dust. Bunny threw a few egg grenades before jumping into a throng to take a few on hand to paw style. Sand resorted to his whips, and Jack used his staff to conjure up as much ice as he thought the Warren could handle without being destroyed again.

Yet no matter how many they destroyed, two more of these creatures would pop up in their place. Samhain was standing back surveying the tiring Guardians; he really would have preferred to just kill the protectors, but he knew what Edge was capable of. He knew the danger he faced if he disobeyed; the last thing the spirit wanted was to be trapped for all eternity in a mirror.

"Just surrender Guardians," he yelled. "I can keep this up all day."

"I do love a man with stamina," a voice snarled behind him, and he turned in time to have an arrow slam into his midsection; his image disappeared. Ember stood there, her eyes glaring down from due to the trick. She saw the Guardian eyes flicker towards her, but she didn't waste much time taking to the air.

"I didn't think you were one to side with the Guardians," Samhain growled stepping from his hiding place to the fleeing Ember. "You're not exactly cool and calm enough for them."

"Perhaps not," she snarled. "But only I'm allowed to mess with the winter spirit." She shot Jack a smile and a wink before summoning fire onto her finger tips. She wasn't sure what was letting her so easily call back the fire, but something inside her had ignited with her return to help the Guardians. She wasn't about to let it go nor let these creatures get away. "Tip for the wise, if you destroy them all at once instead one at a time, you'll exhaust him."

Jack took the hint and steadied his flight next to the fire spirit. He along with Ember summoned up a massive amount of ice to reign down on the creatures with Ember's massive amount of flames. As the two element spirits caused a massive destruction to groups, the other Guardians moved in and destroyed the stragglers. Through the entirety, they could all hear Samhain growling and trying to summon more to combat the Guardians.

The fire spirit didn't say anything, but she knew if the Halloween spirit didn't lose ground soon, the Guardians would. This was still tiring, but she could only hope this was more exhausting for their common enemy. She tried not to grin when Samhain finally cried out in frustration and yelled promises that he would be back when his full power had returned to him.

"Nice timing," Jack said as the two spirits floated to the ground. Thankfully, nothing had caught fire thanks to the winter spirit canceling and combining his powers with hers earlier.

"Figured you can't do anything without me, so…" she shrugged landing on the grass and tried not to appear freaked at the Guardians surrounding them.

"You can't be mad Kangaroo," Jack said. "She didn't set anything on fire."

"This time," the Guardian growled.

"Would saying I'm sorry suffice?" Ember asked, but she felt the tip of North's blade come to rest against her neck.

"Try adding 'really' to that," Jack suggested, not liking the way the Guardians were looking at him either.

**Chapter 9 preview: **The Guardians have a meeting, and Jack has to come to light with the truth… and the protectors try to decide if trusting the fire spirit is too much

**OOC:** Here's your update. I won't get another one until Friday or Saturday at best, Sunday at worst. R&R.


	9. Reasons

**Chapter 9**

Jack and Ember sat silently at the Warren; the Guardians had made it very clear they didn't want to hear from the fire spirit, and Jack was also in hot water. He had no choice but to own up to their meetings to the rest of his family. Bunnymund looked, obviously, angry, North frowned, Sandy looked thoughtful, and Tooth gave Ember a sympathetic gaze.

This was by far not the ideal situation for the two season spirits. It was taking everything in Ember to not snarl at the other Guardians; she thought they were being foolish. She saw them judging her and Jack when there were by far worst enemies they should be worrying about. It wasn't like she had that good control of her powers anymore anyway. The fight against Samhain was a fluke in her mind… worst yet, she was sure he was toying with them. The next time they faced off against the spirit of Halloween, they would have their work cut out for them. If the Guardians would allow a _them_.

"You do know how to show a girl a good time," Ember growled to Jack who was sitting against a tree a few feet away; however, he wasn't tied up like her. He was sitting with his eyes closed and staff slung across his knees.

"What can I say, I am the Guardian of fun," Jack responded, keeping his eyes closed. The joke was obviously forced, but it was better than sitting in silence while the other Guardians spoke about what to do exactly.

"Oh yeah, this is a blast," she continued throwing her head back against the rock she had been left at. Ember was sure she could burn through her bindings if her powers were working full time, but even if they were, she knew it was better to just wait. "I shouldn't have come back…"

Jack's eyes finally met Ember's gaze. "You saved us," he said frowning slightly.

"Perhaps," she shrugged, "but I am going to pay with my life. There is no way they are going to accept me. I tried to kill them and you… which you seem to forget."

"Well you did fail at that," he pointed out, and when Ember glared at the winter spirit, she saw him giving her a small smirk.

"It was your charm," she sighed. "It blinded me." There was a moment of silence from the two spirits before they both broke out in laughter. The entirety of the situation just seemed humorous.

"This isn't a laughing matter, mate," Bunny said hopping over to the two spirits, who immediately quieted down but were still smiling. "You're in load of trouble."

"Which one?" Ember asked, still grinning like an idiot even when Bunny yanked her to her feet. "Me then… It's hard to tell when you put the murderous psychopath in the same doghouse as your fellow Guardian." She felt her back thrown roughly against the rock, and the humor left her voice immediately. Her gaze narrowed on the rabbit.

"At least you're truthful," the Easter bunny growled ignoring the death stare from the fire spirit. "If it was my choice, we'd throw you down the same hole we threw Pitch in."

"But it not just your choice Bunny," North said appearing behind the Guardian of Hope followed by Tooth and Sandy.

"North," Jack said jumping to his feet, but the look the giant Russian spirit sent him silenced him. It wasn't a look of anger as much as disappointment. The entire situation was upsetting.

"Not now Jack," he replied gruffly, his gaze centered on Ember. "You've done a good job of getting yourself on the naughty list."

"I figured burning down each of your homes might do that," Ember frowned trying to maintain her composure. Sandy stepped forward, throwing his fist into his palm, and she had to hide her smile of being threatened by something knee high. She knew he was powerful, but still, it amused her to no end. "If it helps, I am sorry."

"You don't even sound like you mean it," Tooth said fluttering closer.

"I am sorry," she repeated stepping back from the Guardians, so that her back was against the rock fully. "But you also need to understand, all I thought about in the last thirty years was making the spirit I believed to be at fault pay. When I destroyed your homes, I thought that was the perfect way to get back at Jack." She paused slightly not entirely sure how to continue this apology… or explanation. "When I did this, I felt nothing, and even now, I do feel terrible for what I did, but I had my reasons at the time… and that diminishes what I do feel besides like a complete idiot for falling for Pitch's schemes."

Bunnymund's paw came at her shirt again, but she simply ducked and glared at the Guardian. The other Guardians stood attentive as they probably thought over her words. It wasn't probably the best 'I'm sorry' speech, but it was the truth. The fire spirit couldn't change what she did, and sorry didn't exactly change any of it.

"I do want to make up for it," she continued. "That's why I came back after Jackie and I escaped. Edge can't be left to turn every spirit dark."

"You helped Jack escape?" North asked.

"It was only because of her, we were able to get out," Jack said speaking up finally. "Hence the burn." He met Ember's gaze, and she gave him a small frown. That she did feel bad for; she hated when she was being controlled.

"Please give me the chance to help," Ember continued.

"How do we know she's still not working with Pitch?" Bunny asked, and the winter and fire spirit narrowed their gazes.

"Pitch was banished," Ember said, her voice tight.

"He's missing," Tooth explained mostly to Jack. "We thought that everything that was going on was his doing."

"There is no way he has the power to join Edge," Jack said.

"No offense Snowflake," Ember said, "but let's not put money on that. Given the chance to get back at you guys, down or not, he's going to take it."

"As much as I hate to say this," Bunny sighed, "she's right."

North stepped towards the fire spirit, and she took a deep breath and looked up at the Guardian of wonder. He pulled his sword, and she stilled and closed her eyes. She wasn't entirely sure what he was planning to do, but she was ready to accept their judgement. They could hate her, love her, or not care… she just hoped he wouldn't kill her as she did want to help.

"With Pitch or not," North said as he reached around Ember and slit her bonds, "we need all help we can get."

She looked over her free hands then up at the Guardian before nodding in thanks. "So what's the plan then?"

Jack knew he was probably still in hot water with the Guardians for not telling them about the meetings he had with the fire spirit every week, but at least, this was a step in a good direction. While Bunny didn't look happy about this turn of events, the other Guardians looked accepting. Jack flung his staff over his shoulder. He knew the fight was just starting.

"Oh this is cute," Edge called out from one of the holes leading from the Warren. He was leaning against the rock with a grin plastered on his face. To his right stood the anti-Cupid and to his left was Samhain. More frighteningly behind him was a slew of other spirits, eyes hungry and full of pain. There was an anti-Leprechaun, anti-groundhog, anti-Dragon, and anti-May. The odds were not in the Guardians and Ember's favor.

**Chapter 10 Preview:** The Guardians get their first taste of Edge's true power, and they find themselves easily outmatched. They fight not for children this time but for their safety and lives.

**OOC:** I'm sure some of you are like 'WHERE were you?!' The truth is, I've been on break doing nothing (besides being sick), and it's been nice. I haven't had a good break in awhile, but I figured you guys deserved an update. I still know where this is going, so I hope you guys enjoy the next few chapters.


	10. Evil

**Chapter 10**

"This would be an ideal time to give Ember back her bow," Jack suggested positioning his staff in front of him. "Also, a door with a lock would be great to have here."

"Yeah it'd keep us uninvited guests out," Ember said as North tossed her recurve bow. She easily repositioned it and drew an arrow without any issues. She still had no idea why some days her powers seemed fine and others they would just fail out on her.

"I doubt they'd knock," Bunny retaliated.

"Perhaps not," Jack said stepping next to the fire spirit and the Easter rabbit. "But it would make some noise before they surprise us."

"Now this is just adorable," Edge cooed from his place waving at the Guardians. "Opposites working together. Oh this just excites me." He started to clap his hands together, but he didn't get to continue when Ember's arrow flew past his head and hit the rock behind him.

"You missed," Bunny growled.

"I didn't think you'd appreciate me shooting him in the face with fire," she said, and Jack tried to stifle his laughter. The situation was quite serious, but it was hard to take that way with so much tension in the air.

"It is a fair point," the winter spirit said with a shrug as the rest of the Guardians assembled with their weapons.

"That wasn't very nice," Edge growled, his hands balled into fists at his side. He then turned to the rest of the anti-spirits. "I would appreciate them alive, however, unharmed is not necessary."

"This looks like it's going to be a party," Jack muttered as the anti-spirits came at them full force.

"With a lot of uninvited guests," Ember said with a wink before taking to the air. She flew ahead with Tooth. The fairy nailed into the anti-Cupid, and the fire spirit followed up the tackle with an arrow to one of the creature's wings. It snarled in obvious anger, but Ember didn't get to see what she'd do in retaliation as the anti-Dragon of the Chinese New Year came right at her.

Knowing Bunny wouldn't appreciate the entire Warren on fire again, Ember slapped the larger animal in the face with her bow, fire licking off of it as she did so and flew high up with the dragon on her tail. The last thing she ever thought she'd fight would be a dragon, but as she turned to face the creature, it became a hard reality as she dodged the razor teeth of the massive black dragon.

North clashed his blades against an army of undead that Samhain had been very polite to summon. He was cackling like a madman behind the twenty or so skeletons attempting to skewer the Guardian of wonder. He was blocking with one sword and swinging with the other. For every skeleton he knocked down, they stood right back up. He could chop off a limb (bone), and it would just re-attach with a wave of Samhain's hands.

Sandy stood against the anti-spirit of spring, May. She had dead flowers in her hair, and was dressed in a tattered skirt and shirt. The smile on her face was one of malice, and it only grew when the Sandman stepped up to her. Water was dripping from her finger tips.

"April showers," she whispered before sending a spray of water in the Guardian of dreams direction; he simply ducked and formed a question mark above his head.

Bunny had the easiest- the anti-Groundhog. The rabid animal ran at the larger rabbit, and Bunnymund simply opened a hole under the creature's feet. The screeching animal fell right into it and was easily trapped. "I really don't like you mate," he muttered looking down at the rabid spirit. "Suddenly glad it was Frostbite that joined us," he said this more to himself before closing the top of the hole to keep the anti-spirit in their while he helped North deal with Samhain's skeletons. His boomerang slipped from his paw and nailed four skeletons and hit two upon returning to the Guardian. Samhain barely moved from his spot near Edge; he stood simply watching, but his face showed far more emotion than Edge's.

Edge looked thoughtful at best; his eyes were skipping from one fighting Guardian to the next. Of course, his eyes would always stray back to Jack, who was fighting the spirit of luck- Leppy the Leprechaun- then Ember. Bunny noticed this, and he didn't like the way this new enemy stared at his fellow Guardian… but the Guardian of hope couldn't tell if he stared at Jack with fascination, want, or just plain curiosity. It sent shivers down the rabbit's spine that was for sure.

Tooth barely dodged an arrow from anti-Cupid, and as she looked around at her fellow comrades who were all trying to stay on top of their own fight, but even on their own ground, each were losing slowly. There were just so many enemies that she feared they would be defeated. In her distraction, an arrow clipped her shoulder; Tooth felt the heat of the wound followed an inescapable bout of hatred toward nothing in specific, just everything. Her face scrunched together as she yelled out and moved to attack anti-Cupid again with more vigor. Her sword swinging down in an attempt to behead the spirit, but anti-Cupid expected this and ducked before slamming her fist into Tooth's midsection.

"Tooth!" Jack cried before trying to fly above the Leprechaun's head to go and help his fellow Guardian, but he fell right on his face. The opposite of being lucky was obviously bad luck, and the winter spirit was feeling the unlucky. He had already frozen himself to the ground, fallen on his face, and flown straight into a tree.

"Now where do ya think ya goin' lad?" anti-Leppy asked smiling. His teeth were all rotted or falling out. The once green suit was now tattered in black. "We're not done."

Jack shot a beam of ice at the spirit in hopes of buying some time to go help Tooth, but the beam hit the ground a few feet short before rebounding back at the winter spirit. He hung his head in annoyance when his own attack pushed him back a few feet.

"Oh this is such fun," Edge finally said breaking his long silence.

North glared at the man from behind the army of skeletons. Samhain had been easier to beat when they were all focused on him, but now that it was two against infinity, both North and Bunny were losing ground quick. It was hard to beat someone that could just keep reanimating the skeletons that they destroyed.

Sandy was probably faring the best out of all the Guardians; anti-May's power was water, which could wash sand away or help mold it. The dreamer knew how to avoid all the splashes she kept sending at him, and he had already hit her a few times with his whips, but he was trying avoiding hurting her. He knew May, and to see her like this upset Sandy greatly. He knew this really wasn't her, but that didn't change the fact she was trying to basically flatten him.

Finally, Ember was flying hard to keep the dragon on her tail. She wished that instead of turning this new year spirit, that Edge turned Babs, the baby new year, instead. Even with her fire power protecting her from the brunt, she was still exhausting herself keeping the creature on her tail and not burning the entire warren to the ground. The blood red dragon was right on her, and she dropped a few feet in the air to avoid its claws raking her back. In her periphery, she saw what happened to Tooth and saw Jack struggling to help his fellow guardian. Turning hard in the air, Ember drew an arrow and shot it right into the chin of the dragon to hear it scream and claw at her, but she had already pushed ahead to give Tooth back up.

Ember saw an arrow fly at Tooth, and while it wasn't an easy shot, Ember lined up her own arrow and shot the enemy arrow from the air. It was one lucky shot, impossibly lucky; her eyes wandered down to anti-Leppy, but he was still snarling and laughing at Jack. Focusing, the fire spirit floated next to Tooth and notched an arrow.

"Come on love," Ember said to the anti-Cupid. "Let's see who the better archer is."

"I'd agree, but he won't," anti-Cupid said with a small smile pointing up. Ember and Tooth barely had a chance to look up before the anti-dragon's tail slammed into both of them and sent them into the ground hard.

The two had landed behind North and Bunny, who both moved to get them up and moving. Tooth groaned and touched her pounding head while Ember just re-adjusted her grip on her bow. She watched as both the anti-spirits they were just fighting return to Edge's side. Ember was deciding she really didn't like that guy.

"I do not understand your reluctance Ember," Edge said as if him and her were the only ones here. "Opposites are natural occurrence. For every good spirit that exists, there must be an equal and opposite. So why do you fight what you are?"

"And what am I?" Ember growled trying to notch an arrow but her shoulder ached.

"You were born of darkness and fire," Edge continued, cocking his head to the side. "You try to be good, but you were not created by the Man in the Moon to be a protector as the spirits around you. You were born to be an opposite, to create balance between good and evil. You belong with me," he said touching his chest. "Stop trying to be something you're not and you will find your mind at peace."

Edge was met with silence; Ember found her gaze casted to the ground. She found her mind and heart at war again. She had known for quite some time that it might not had been Manny's will to bring her back, for when she awoke on a beach, she had not heard a word from the moon nor from anyone. She learned all she knew through accidents and trials.

"She died protecting her sister!" Tooth argued.

"Perhaps," Edge shrugged. "But her final thoughts were not of her sister but of her hate, of her anger for her father. She is a spirit of fire and anger." His eyes trailed back over to Ember.

Before he could continue, a wall of ice sprung up separating the Guardians and Ember from the entirety of the army Edge had brought. The ice was thick, but even through it, the outlines of their enemies could be seen. Jack walked up looking worse for wear but still on his feet.

"Are they all on that side?" Bunny asked pointing to the ice wall.

"Yes," Jack said thinking back to when he was finally able to land a hit on anti-Leppy and send him flying as a giant snowball back. "But the wall does not go up forever. The fliers can get over."

"It's also very reflective," Edge said stepping through the ice. "That was not very nice Jack. I was not done speaking with Ember." He stepped towards them all but more specifically Ember who was frozen in place. "Now where was I?" He tapped his chin. "Ah yes, I want you on our side where you belong my feisty little fire spirit."

"No," Ember whispered, her voice cracked. She didn't like hearing what he was saying to her. "No," she said a bit louder and more confident.

Edge seemed to sigh, and Jack didn't waste time attacking the man. He sent an icicle in the direction of the villain, but Edge simply sighed and summoned what looked to be a mirror. The icicle was absorbed by the mirror before being reflected at Ember. Her eyes went wide when the sheet of ice slammed into her and sent her sprawling.

North roared and attacked Edge, but he simply brought back up that strange mirror and it sent North spinning into Bunny almost, who had to dodge North's blade in turn. When Bunnymund tried his luck with his boomerang, it came back and smacked Sandy in the head. All the time Edge simply smiled untouched.

"He is reflecting all of our attacks," Tooth finally summed up stepping back and knowing it was better to not risk another head on attack.

"Tell me about it," Ember groaned holding her stomach and slowly standing. Her entire body shivered from the earlier onslaught of ice.

"Then how do we attack him?" Jack asked.

"Please Guardians," Edge said raising his hand. "Enough of this folly. I really am only here for Ember."

"You wanted me too," Jack growled trying to distract him.

"All in good time," Edge said with a smile. "Let's not be selfish for the moment. Now Ember…"

"How many times do I need to say no before you get it through your thick skull!" she growled. "I won't join you. I don't care if… if I was born to be evil. I won't help you."

Edge sighed, "Perhaps you need a reminder why you were born."

"There is nothing you can do to me to convince me."

"Oh but there is," he said, a massive smirk covering his face. His eyes seemed to sparkle. "You're immortal currently my dear Ember. And as you are now, you seem to have forgotten the fear and darkness you were created in. I'll help you remember."

"Pitch couldn't scare me," she growled. "What makes you think you can be any different?"

"Because my dear fire spirit," he said stepping towards her, and time seemed to freeze. "I can take away this persona you hide behind, the fire and the immortality. After all I deal with opposites, and what is the opposite of being a spirit?" A mirror was suddenly in front of Ember, and her eyes were glued on her reflection. "What do you see, Ember?"

"No Ember!" Jack cried moving to knock her from her spot, but the other anti-spirits had finally rejoined the fight and anti-Leppy made sure the winter spirit fell face flat.

The fire spirit's eyes were wide, and no matter how she wanted to look away from the mirror, she couldn't. For standing in the mirror was not some evil maniacle version of herself as the other spirits had seen; instead, in the mirror stood herself as she had been the day before she had died- no scars, no fire licking her skin, and full of fear for her sister, for her mother, and for her own life… before the fire spirit could even let out a choked cry, she felt a pull and agony in every bone… the next thing she knew besides the battle around her was her falling to her knees. Ember stared down at her arm, the one that had always been scarred, and she tried not to cry at the sight. Her scar was gone, and when she looked into the ice to see her own reflection- she saw herself with no scars, long brown hair, and brown eyes… she saw herself as a human.

**Chapter 11 preview:** Ember… now Amber is powerless against Edge and his spirits. Even worse so, her mind is tainted with everything she had felt before her death. Frozen in fear, Amber has everything to lose if she doesn't agree to Edge's terms… as for the rest of the Guardians, they find themselves having to choose to make a retreat and surrender the Warren or die if they stay.

**OOC:** Not much to say today, just hope you enjoy this turn of events. R&R :P


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